June 15, 2006

What is empathy? What role does it play in social and moral life?

Empathy in its many forms will be the topic of discussion at a June 22-23 conference sponsored by Cal State Fullerton, the American Society for Aesthetics and the British Society of Aesthetics.

“The purpose of the conference is to provide a forum for scholars from different disciplines to come together to discuss and debate the topic of empathy, which is relevant to human experience in many ways,” said Amy Coplan, assistant professor of philosophy and a conference host. “Philosophers and psychologists are interested in how empathy works and if it provides a unique kind of knowledge or understanding.”

Noel Carroll, the Andrew W. Mellon professor in the humanities at Temple University, and Paul L. Harris, professor of education at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, are keynote speakers. Other discussions will be led by Coplan, other CSUF faculty members and professors from the universities of Nottingham, Auckland, North Carolina, Manchester and Michigan and New York University.

Faculty, staff and students are invited to attend the free conference, which will be held in the Fullerton Marriott. For more information, visit http://hss.fullerton.edu/philosophy/EmpathyMain.htm

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